Markets close in the red despite strong results

Mumbai, Apr 29: Notwithstanding fairly strong results from Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Cipla, Maruti Udyog and Grasim Industries, markets closed in the red last week on account of weakness in the Asian markets and caution ahead of a slew of holidays.

The markets will remain closed on Tuesday and Wednesday this week for ''Maharashtra Day'' and ''Buddha Pournima'' respectively.

For the week ended April 27, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex was up 11.59 points at 13,908.58 while the National Stock Exchange Nifty was down marginally by 0.05 points to 4,003.50.

The week started on a mildly bullish note with the Sensex rising 30.92 points to 13,928.33 on Monday, choosing to remain cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy. On Tuesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 208.39 points to finish at 14,136.72 after the RBI decided to keep all policy rates, cash reserve ratio (CRR), the repo, the reverse repo and bank rates unchanged.

Speculative buying as well as short-covering in the derivatives aided the surge, especially in the banking shares.

On Wednesday, the benchmark Sensex gained 81.05 points to 14,217.77 as it abandoned a weak intra-day trend towards the latter part of the day, led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries.

Analysts pointed out that short-covering ahead of expiry of the April contracts also happened in the latter half of the day.

On Thursday, the Sensex rose marginally by 11.11 points to 14,228.88, after highly volatile session, due to the scheduled expiry of the April 2007 derivatives contracts. But the Sensex was not able to sustain the higher levels for the last day of the week and, hence, plunged 320.30 points to 13,908.58 as index pivotals were being offloaded, tracking weak global markets and profit-booking.

Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 3.05 per cent to Rs 1,538.20. RIL reported 14 per cent growth in net profit in the fourth quarter ended March 31, at Rs 2853 crore compared to Rs 2520 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

On the back of strong refining margins, the Company said refining margins for March 2007 quarter were USD 13 a bareel, higher than the benchmark Asian Dubai crack margin which averaged less than USD 7 in the quarter. Net sales rose 5.5 per cent to Rs 25,895 crore from Rs 24,542 crore. RIL posted a net profit of Rs 10,908 crore for the financial year 2007 compared with the net profit of Rs 9,069 crore in FY2006. Net sales rose to Rs 105,363.30 crore from Rs 61,211 crore.

The Company's earnings per share (EPS) rose to Rs 78.3 in FY2007 from Rs 65.10 in FY2006. RIL has set up 135 retail stores in 16 cities during FY2007.

Small car major Maruti Udyog (MUL) rose 2.41 per cent to Rs 795. MUL repoted 24 per cent growth in net profit in Q4 March 2007 at Rs 449 crore against Rs 361 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Grasim advanced 1.27 per cent to Rs 2421.35. It reported 80.5 per cent growth in net profit in Q4 March 2007 at Rs 474.49 crore (Rs 262.74 crore).

Net sales surged 36.2 per cent to Rs 2493.75 crore (Rs 1829.78 crore).

Pharma major Cipla plunged 7.64 per cent to Rs 217.10, after it reported 34 per cent fall in net profit in Q4 March 2007 at Rs 126 crore from Rs 191 crore, mainly due to the share decline in active pharmaceutical ingredients exports and rising material costs. Net sales for the quarter were up 6.3 per cent to Rs 938.5 crore on the back of 14.4 per cent growth in domestic revenues to Rs 39.7 crore.

Exports were flat at Rs 529.3 crore in the quarter ended March 31 from Rs 526.6 crore in last year's corresponding quarter.

Bharti Airtel declined 2.28 per cent to Rs 826.25 even as it posted a stronger-than-expected 98 per cent surge in net profit for Q4 March 2007.

Its consolidated net profit, as per US GAAP, jumped 98 per cent in Q4 March 2007 at Rs 1,353.09 crore from Rs 682.31 crore during the corresponding period last year. Revenue rose 58 per cent to Rs 5,393.18 crore from Rs 3,411.33 crore.

Official data released on Friday showed India's wholesale price index rose 6.09 per cent in the twelve months to April 14, 2007, unchanged from the previous week. Analysts said they expected it to dip below 6 per cent in the coming weeks.

Bank of Japan (BoJ) on Friday left its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5 per cent for the third meeting in a row against the backdrop of lingering deflationary pressures.

A report from Credit Swisse pointed out that the development was largely a result of rapid appreciation in the Rupee which strengthened to below 41 against the dollar on Wednesday.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), with a capitalisation of USD 944 billion, is also inching towards the magic USD 1 trillion mark. The other countries in the trillion dollar club are the US, UK, Japan.

Germany, China, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, Brazil and Russia.

UNI